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Cobbler is at its best with bubbling fruit and a moist, tender biscuit-style topping. My recipe works for many fruits, with an easy recipe for the dough that includes yogurt for incredibly good flavor and texture.
My favorite cobbler and one of my favorite summer dessert recipes includes light, fluffy biscuits that are soooo moist and tender. Yogurt in the dough makes all the difference for biscuit-style cobblers. Give them a light touch with handling. Scroll down to find all kinds of fruit variations. There’s no real limit to the fruit options! Also find out the reason why I most often turn to apricots and nectarines for a very easy fruit cobbler. You’re also going to love my unique yogurt-based biscuit topping!
Try my blueberry cobbler recipe too, with a shortbread-like crust (and a story I hold dear).
The Classic Cobbler Recipe
Cobbler is much like a pie, except there is no bottom crust. And the top is not a pie crust, but a dropped biscuit. Cobbler is just that because of the way the top of the batter forms dumplings that look like a cobblestone street!
Peach cobbler remains one of the most beloved versions of this easy summer dessert, but it’s easy to change up the fruit with your favorites or what you may have on hand or in season. The recipe takes basic ingredients, so it’s easy to pull together. The harmony of sweet peaches with a biscuit-style topping has inspired us all to go cobbler with peaches and more.
Ingredients for Cobbler
- Fruit Filling: The world is your oyster here, with any fruit. Stone fruit is especially common, but apple, blueberries, and more can star in a cobbler. Start with juicy peaches, apricots and/or nectarines, combined with a little sugar to accentuate their sweetness. Fresh fruit is always best in fruit cobblers. We also add flour to thicken the fruit filling. And my special unique twist: a splash of orange blossom water. Flower waters are so good with fruits of any kind! Find exceptional pure orange blossom water from Lebanon in my shop.
- Cobbler Topping: Flour-coated butter crumbles, cold butter, cold whole milk yogurt create a rich biscuit topping. These homemade biscuits are light as a feather! Incorporating yogurt in this mix gives a tangy twist that complements the sweetness of the fruit. A fine substitution for yogurt: buttermilk. And if you don’t have buttermilk, make your own DIY buttermilk substitute: mix cold whole milk with a tablespoon of white vinegar or lemon juice. It behaves similarly to buttermilk in recipes.
Pro Tips
Here are some favorite tips and tricks to make perfect cobblers every time.
- Fruit Selection: For the best results, choose a mix of ripe and slightly firm fruits. This is the best way to add texture and prevents overwhelming sweetness. Shop your farmer’s market for what’s in season, or the grocery store anytime of year.
- Balancing Sugar Levels: While adjusting sugar, consider the natural sweetness of your chosen fruits. For example, sweet peaches may need less added sugar compared to tart cherries.
- Fruit Binding: Coat the raw mixed fruit with a bit of flour to prevent much liquid from saturating the biscuit layer.
- Cook the fruit first: My recipe is unique in that we bake the fruit mixture first, in the baking dish. This gives it a head start on cooking all the way through before adding the topping and continuing to bake from there.
- Cut the Butter Cold: Use a pastry cutter or your hands to incorporate cold butter into the flour mixture to achieve a perfect crumble.
- Adding Tartness: Lemon juice is simply a must for fruit fillings. It helps balance the sweetness. The acidity really brings out the fruit flavor.
- Dumpling Technique: Use a light hand when mixing the topping. Drop spoonfuls of biscuit dough on top of fruit for a classic cobbler look. The drop biscuit rather than formed biscuit is key to lightness.
- Baking Dish: Always prepare your cobbler in a large baking dish (think of this like a deep-dish pie) allowing the fruit to spread and the biscuit topping to rise uninterrupted.
- Catch Overflow: A large baking sheet under your dish can catch any spillovers. Line it with foil or parchment for easy cleanup.
Exploring Variations
Adapt recipes to the time of year by swapping fruits.
Apricot and Nectarine Cobbler. Expand your cobbler repertoire from fresh peaches by using fresh apricots and nectarines. I love this combo because they pair perfectly and require no peeling, which makes a much faster cobbler preparation. Peaches do require peeling because the skins will come off in baking.
Raspberry and Cherry Cobbler. Serve an unforgettable cobbler by blending raspberries with tart cherries (see my cherry pie filling recipe and increase x2 or x3). A touch of almond extract pairs perfectly with cherries, enriching the flavor profile.
Apple Cobbler. When stone fruits are out of season, apple cobbler is a favorite for au. Think brown sugar and cinnamon sugar. Using sweet apples like Gala or Fuji provides the perfect base for a spiced, warming dessert. Start with my apple pie filling recipe (increase x2 or x3) and go from there with the biscuit topping.
Serving and Storing
Presentation can elevate a simple cobbler to a drool-worthy masterpiece. Show off the baked cobbler masterpiece by bringing the cobbler to the table. Scoop out servings into individual cobbler dishes, with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or any favorite ice cream on top. Heaven! Store leftovers in an airtight container, or in the baking dish covered, in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
Cobbler Recipe
Ingredients
For the fruit:
- 3-4 pounds apricots and nectarines, or peaches, peeled. About 12 cups
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 lemon
- 1/2 teaspoon orange blossom water
- 1/4 cup unbleached, all-purpose flour
For the biscuits:
- 2 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 10 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes (1/4-inch or so)
- 2/3 cup plain, whole milk yogurt
- 2 teaspoons granulated sugar, or demerara sugar, top the biscuits
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 350โ.
- Thickly slice the nectarines, pitting them as you do this. Pull apart the apricots to halve them and remove the pits. Place all of the fruit into a 13x9x2-inch or similar-sized oval baking dish.
- Top the fruit with the brown sugar, granulated sugar, lemon juice, and orange blossom water. Stir to coat the fruit completely. Taste the fruit, and if you think it is still very tart, add a couple more tablespoons of either of the sugars. If it needs more tartness, add more lemon juice. Stir in the 1/4 cup flour.
- Bake for 30 minutes.
- While the fruit cooks, make the biscuit topping. Using a whisk and a large bowl, or in a food processor, pulse the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt to combine.ย
- Add all of the cubed cold butter at once, then cut with a pastry cutter or in the food processor pulse in 1-second pulses until a dry crumb forms (about 10 1-second pulses). Transfer the mixture to a medium bowl.
- Use a rubber spatula to fold in the yogurt. Use a light hand and keep at it until the dough comes together. This takes some doing but is worth it for a tender biscuit! The dough should look a little rough; don’t over-mix or over-handle it.
- When the fruit is bubbling and baked, remove from the oven and increase the heat to 425โ.
- Lightly and roughly shape 10 flat-ish biscuits and space them evenly over the fruit, without letting them touch one another if possible.
- Top each biscuit with a dusting of the remaining teaspoons of granulated sugar.
- Bake for 16 minutes, or until the biscuits are golden brown on top. Cool the cobbler for about 20 minutes before serving. To make ahead, rewarm the cobbler for 15 minutes or long as you need, in a low oven (250โ).
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Hi Maureen, I love your recipes. Iโm in Australia and havenโt eaten a decent apricot since I was in Lebnan in 1994. we have them here, they just arenโt that tasty or juicy. Do you think I could substitute the tinned ones? Iโll have to wait till December for fresh nectarines, which are good here. Also, the raspberries are ridiculously expensive here. About $3.50 for about a cup full. I tend to use frozen ones if Iโm making a coulis and need a larger amount. Do you think the frozen would be okay for the cake? Wish I could grow my own, but think itโs too hot in Brisbane.
Janet thanks so much. You could use canned apricots for the cobbler; add plenty of lemon juice to balance the sweetness. You can also use frozen raspberries, no problem at all! Warm regards to you in Brisbane!
We here, in Europe, love your recipes, too. Might we reauest that you also publish them using the European measurements of mml and grams? THANK YOU!
Thank you for your kind words and suggestion!
dear Maureen, I too, use laban as sub for dif. recipes including Irish soda bread which calls for buttermilk. comes out great, Can;t wait to try your recipe for cobbler, but it is getting hard to find apricots now and the ones I just purchased are for jam,thanks for recipe.
Thanks Marcia!
I also substitute Laban for tons of things that call for dairy. I am so glad to see that u do too…but why did u have to give away our secret…lol…hahaha. jus kiddin. And…yes we do make it again as soon as the previous one is gone.